MOCA TALKS with Thomas S. Mullaney – The Chinese Computer: A Global History

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) cordially invites you to join an insightful discussion with Thomas S. Mullaney, Professor of Chinese History at Stanford University and author of The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age. This event will uncover the fascinating, untold story of how the Chinese language overcame unparalleled challenges and revolutionized the world of computing.

A standard QWERTY keyboard has a few dozen keys. How can Chinese—a language with tens of thousands of characters and no alphabet—be input on such a device? In The Chinese Computer, Mullaney sets out to resolve this paradox, discovering that the key to this seemingly impossible riddle has given rise to a new epoch in the history of writing—a form of writing he calls “hypography.” Based on fifteen years of research, this pathbreaking history charts the beginnings of electronic Chinese technology in the wake of World War II and traces its many iterations to the present day.

Mullaney takes readers through the evolution of Chinese language computing technology, highlighting the development of electronic Chinese input methods—software programs that enable Chinese characters to be produced using alphanumeric symbols—and their profound impact on the way Chinese is written. Along the way, Mullaney introduces a cast of brilliant and eccentric personalities from IBM, MIT, the CIA, the Pentagon, the Taiwanese military, and the highest ranks of the mainland Chinese establishment, exploring the unexpected roles they played in developing Chinese language computing. He also illustrates how China and the non-Western world, through the hypographic technologies they invented, helped the Western computer overcome its inherent biases and achieve a meaningful presence in markets outside the Americas and Europe.

The conversation will be moderated by Herb Tam, MOCA’s Curator and Director of Exhibitions. Join us for this captivating discussion that explores the dynamic interplay between culture and technology.

About Thomas S. Mullaney

Thomas S. Mullaney is Professor of Chinese History at Stanford University and a Guggenheim Fellow. He is the author of The Chinese Typewriter: A History, Where Research Begins, and Coming to Terms with the Nation: Ethnic Classification in Modern China.

Host or Publisher Museum of Chinese in America